There's Only Us
by bandgeek4evz
Summary: Mimi's the new girl at Larson High School and when she and Roger meet they are instantly attracted to each other. Is attraction enough to keep the relationship strong?
1. Chapter 1

Maria Isabelle Marquez walked into Larson High, scared out of her mind. It was her first day at a new high school and she was entering her sophomore year. She figured it would be hard for her to make friends because everyone already knew each other and she knew absolutely no one. She would deal with it though. She always managed to deal somehow.

As she timidly walked through the crowded halls she glanced over at a group of girls looking at her and pointing. Immediately she began to panic. At her old school whenever someone had been pointing at her it meant they were making fun of her. They made fun of her mostly for being overweight. She wasn't obese or anything. Just a little chubby but the kids still made fun of her. These girls couldn't be making fun of her though, right? They didn't even know her. Hell, they didn't even know her name.

She tried her best to just shrug it off and continued walking to her firs t period class. It was Choir which she absolutely loved. She enjoyed singing almost as much as dancing. Any type of performing that allowed her to escape from her sucky life was enjoyable. For that amount of time that she was performing she could make the music or the dance routine her life and not worry about reality.

She entered the choir room and realized she was one of the first students there that morning so she just took a seat and waited for class to begin while she began thinking of how she would want to introduce herself when all of the teachers made her do those stupid introductions at the beginning of each class.

Soon enough the other students began entering the class and she directed all of her attention towards them. She examined each person entering the room and immediately began to smile when she saw a cute boy entert the room. He had the rocker image going on with his bleach blonde, short, choppy hair and his leather jacket.

She felt her heart skip a beat when the cute boy and his two friends sat down next to her. She had never really had a crush on a boy before because she knew guys just didn't like her. But hse hoped now that she was getting a fresh start she would have a chance with this guy. He already seemed amazing and he hadn't even spoken to her yet.

Roger looked over at the new girl and smiled to himself slightly. She wasn't exactly beautiful like a model or anything but Roger did find her to be quite beautiful. Maybe she wasn't skinny like every model and actress but she had a nice, full figure and a gorgeous face. He noticed her glance at him and quickly diverted his gaze. He didn't want anyone knowing he was attracted to her. He _couldn't_ let anyone know he was attracted to her. And the reason for that was walking right towards him.

April strutted over to Roger with a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck, mostly to show everyone that he was hers. Roger forced the thoughts of this new girl out of his head and smiled at April. Although they seemed all happy and comfortable with each other right now, they weren't really like that. They fought all the time and broke up practically every other day. He stayed with her because they had fun together but he wasn't really physically attracted to her. Not like he was attracted to the new girl… 


	2. Chapter 2

The choir class seemed to go by very slowly for Mimi. Although she loved singing, she would love talking to the cute boy who was sitting next to her even more. She wanted to get to know and learn nearly everything about him. Sh eknew it was wrong to be having these thoughts about him when he had a girlfriend and she was just across the room but she really couldn't help herself. 

She decided that she was going to talk to the guy whether he had a girlfriend or not. She was a little nervous about it because she didn't have much experience in talking to guys but she knew she would regret it if she didn't talk to him.

Thankfully the choir director gave the class time to talk at the end of the period but she requested they stay in their seats. This was perfect for Mimi. She would be able to talk to him without his girlfriend walking over and interrupting their conversation.

She turned to face him and was about to open her mouth to introduce herself but he beat her to the punch.

"Hey," Roger said coolly as he let his fingers run through his blonde hair. "Are you new?"

Just hearing his voice made her heart start beating uncontrollably. It was like he had a spell on her or something. Her palms were even starting to sweat now. She was so nervous to actually speak to him but she had to answer his question or he would think she was stupid.

"Uhm, yeah," she told him, trying to make sure her voice didn't start shaking because of her nerves. "Today is my first day. This is a really big school. I was given a tour yesterday but I don't remember where any of my classes are."

Roger couldn't help but to smile slightly when she began to speak. She seemed a little shy right now but that made her even cuter in his eyes. When he heard her say she had no idea where anything was he wanted to offer to show her around so they could get to know each other. Right when he opened his mouth to speak, April started waving to him from across the room. Shit. He had almost forgetten that he still had a girlfriend.

Now he had a whole guilty conscience thing going on about whether he should give Mimi a tour of the school because he knew if he spent more time with her then he would end up flirting with her. On his right shoulder was the good Roger, telling him not to show Mimi around the school because he already had a girlfriend. On his left shoulder was the evil Roger, telling him to show Mimi around the school because he and April fought too m uch. They were bound to break up soon anyways.

He was so confused about what to do but he finally decided to listen to the evil Roger. He wasn't going to let April affect what he wanted to do. She was his girlfriend, not his mom.

"Well, if you'd like then I could show you around the school and point out your classes to you and everything," he said with a smile while trying ot ignore the fact that April was attempting to flag him down across the room.

Mimi's chocolate brown eyes immediately lit up when she heard his offer. She wondered if he was acutally being flirty with her or just being nice. 

"Yeah, I would really appreciate that but is your going to be okay with that? And what's your name?" She asked, suddenly realizing that they hadn't even introduced themselves yet.

Roger could only roll his eyes when april was mentioned. He knew it made him seem like a bad person to not even care about his own girlfriend but if people knew what went on between them outside of school then they wouldn't blame him. April could be a real bitch when she wanted to. And she wanted to be a bitch quite often.

"No, she won't mind if I just show you around," he liked. He knew April was going to be really pissed off when he left class with the new girl today instead of with her but he didn't even care right now. "And the name's Roger. Roger Davis. What about you?"

"My name is Maria but they call me Mimi. Mimi Marquez," she said, flashing him a rather flirtatious smile.

A few moments after they introduced themselves the bell rang. Mimi was actually happy that choir was over because now she would get alone time with Roger, her new crush and hopefully her future boyfriend.


	3. Chapter 3

Roger had just finished showing Mimi around but she still didn't really remember where anything was because she was so focused on Roger. She had been watching him and hearing his voice the whole time but she hadn't really been listening. She was too mesmerized by how amazing he was. She could have sworn he had been flirting with her a little bit but maybe he was just a friendly guy.

Roger was kind of depressed about the tour he was giving Mimi being over. He didn't want to go back to class or be separated from Mimi. He had really started to get to know her and he liked her even more than he thought he would. She had this amazing personality and they seemed to have quite a bit in common.

"You know, I don't think I'm going to go to class today. I usually only go to class about twice a week anyway so I'm due for a skip day," he told her, laughing to himself about how rare it was for to actually attend a class. He honestly couldn't care less about school. "If you're up for it then you can join me," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Now Mimi knew he was flirting. Guys didn't just ask random girls to skip school with them. Not unless they were interested in more than a friendship of course. She wasn't positive if something was going to happen between them but she was going to try her hardest to make sure it did. 

"I am definitely up for it, Davis. But what exactly are we going to be doing?" She asked. 

"Well, I don't have any money on me right now so I'll just take you to the park. That's where me and my friends usually hang out," he explained.

Mimi smiled a little when she heard they were going to the park. This was sounding more and more like a date to her but she still wasn't sure if Roger saw it that way too. She wanted to make a move on him to see how he would react but she wasn't exactly sure how to. 

"That sounds great. I haven't been to the park since I was a little girl so I'm sure it will bring back lots of childhood memories," she said as she looked up at him with a smile.

Slowly, she reached for his hand and laced their fingers together while beginning to walk towards the exit of the school.

Roger looked down at their hands, unable to believe this girl had actually made a move on him. Afterall she had seen that he had a girlfriend and all but maybe she could sense that he wasn't happy with April. Or maybe she had just picked up on all the flirting he had been doing. Either way he was really happy that something was happening between them. This was going to make the whole day much more enjoyable.

Mimi breathed a sigh of relief when Roger didn't pull his hand away. So he _had_ been flirting with her. She couldn't believe that a guy actually liked her. Guys usually didn't like her. They said she was too big or they didn't like her race or something like that. Now it was weird to find out that someone liked her and it was someone who was actually really goodlooking.

"Roger, thanks for being so nice to me today," she said just as they arrived at the park. She led him over to the swingset and sat down and began pumping her legs. 

"Oh, it's no big deal, Mimi. How could I resist being nice to such a beautiful girl?" He asked, finally being completely forward with his flirting now that she knew he liked her. 

Mimi's cheeks immediately turned a dark pink color when he complimented her. She wasn't used that but it was very sweet. Who would have guessed that the edgy rocker could actually be such a sweetheart deep down.

"Aww, thank you. That is so sweet," she told him as she reached her hand over to his swing so they could swing and hold hands at the same time. It seemed like April had completely slipped both of their minds now. They acted like they were dating. A few people walking by even said 'aww' as they passed because the couple was so cute together.

They spent the rest of the day together in the park swinging and sliding and they even played on the monkey bars for a little while. They had a blast but they also talked a lot and got to know each other even better. They just talked about basic things like their favorite color and their favorite food and their favorite bands and everything. By the end of the day they knew all about each other's favorites and they were both starting to like each other more and more.

Mimi glanced down at her watch after a while and realized it was almost dinner time. She had lost track of time because she was having so much fun with Roger. 

"Shit, Roger, I have to go home. It's going to be dinner time soon and if I'm not home on time then my mom will kill me," she told him as she stopped her swing and stood up. "I had a great time with you today though," she said and then walked over to his swing and placed a kiss on his lips.

It was a bold move but they had had so much fun together and gotten to know each other so she thought it would be okay. She felt just a little bad about being so flirty with Roger when he had a girlfriend but honestly, most of the time his girlfriend wasn't even on her mind. She was too focused on Roger to really worry about anything else.

"Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a smile before quickly starting to walk home so she wouldn't be late for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning when Roger walked to his locker before class, an angry April was already there waiting for him. He knew what it was about. She must have figured out that he ditched school with Mimi yesterday. Of course she couldn't know what had went on that day. No one knew exactly went on because it had just been the two of them but if she did know what happened, she would be even more angry. The thing was Roger didn't care if she was angry anymore because he had Mimi now. Even though he had been dating April for a lot longer than he had even known Mimi he already liked her more. He wasn't sure why but he was just drawn to her for some reason.

"Hi April," he mumbled as he twisted the knob on his locker to the right numbers. He knew he was going to get an earful from her but he was seriously considering just ending their relationship anyways. They only got along half of the time they were together so why should he want to keep that relationship?

"Roger Davis, you are such an asshole!" She practically yelled at him. "How dare you tell me you're walking the new girl to class and then ditch the whole to hang out with her? In case you forgot, you have a girlfriend. I don't know who that little whore thinks she is but I don't want you talking to her anymore. I'm not sure what you see in her anyhow. She's not pretty and she's definitely not skinny," she said, cackling a bit as she recalled what the girl looked like.

By the time April finished yelling at him Roger already had all of his books and frankly, he was tired of hearing her voice. He turned to face her, seeing an ugly person in front of him. Not because of her features but because of how she was acting. This was what he hated so much about her. She got jealous and out of control.

"April, calm down. I'm allowed to hang out with other girls. You don't get to control me and say who I am and am not allowed to talk to. Mimi's a great girl. She's not a whore and I actually think she's very pretty. I think it's good that she came here. I've been meaning to talk to you anyways," he told her, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts so he didn't just start blurting random things out. "We fight a lot, April. Most of the time we're not even on speaking terms. I just really don't think we're meant for each other. You only want to stay with me because I have the image you like but you really don't know much about me. I think it's time for us to start seeing other people."

April's jaw dropped after she heard his words. He knew why he was doing this. He wanted to date that Mimi girl! If you thought she was pissed before, she was beyond pissed now. It took everything in her not to go find that girl and murder her. Her and Roger had been the perfect couple in her eyes and now it was all crashing down around her.

April brought her hand up and slapped Roger across the face without thinking twice about it. She didn't want to think about anything. She just wanted to get even with both Roger and his stupid whore.

"Go to hell, Davis," she spat out before stomping away angrily.

As Roger brought his hand up to rub his face which now had a red mark on it, all of his friends walked over. Maureen walked over with Mark and Joanne on either side of her and Collins walked up with Angel by his side. Meanwhile Roger's arch enemy Benny was standing just across the hall laughing his ass off at the sight of Roger being slapped. 

"What happened?" Mark asked with wide eyes. He had never seen April that angry before. Usually the fights between Roger and April only happened in private but apparently April didn't care what people in public thought about her.

"Well, I finally broke up with April. I met someone yesterday. Mark and Collins, you know her and the rest of you probably haven't met her yet. She's the new girl, Mimi. I showed her around the school yesterday and then we ended up ditching together. It was so different than the time I spend with April. We actually talked and got to know each other. We didn't just make out. But she did kiss me before we had to go home and there were sparks. She's perfect and I want to ask her to be my girlfriend soon if she doesn't ask me out first. She was the one making all the moves yesterday and I liked it," he explained to the rest of the bohos.

Just as Roger finished speaking about her Mimi spotted him at his locker and walked over. She was a little more shy today because all of his friends were around but today she looked even more beautiful than yesterday. Roger was so happy he had broken up with April. Now he was free to do whatever he wanted with Mimi and have no guilt about it. The only thing he was worried about was what April would do to Mimi. She was known for spreading rumors and doing other cruel things and he didn't want Mimi to have to 

deal with that just because of him.

"Hi, Roger," she said softly with a smile on her face as she moved to stand next to him. "I'm glad to see you decided to come to school today," she told him with a slight giggle.

He smiled at her but across the hallway, Benny caught his eye. He was staring at Mimi. Of course, Benny wanted any girl that Roger had. Ever since they first met they had basically competed with each other and he could tell by the look in his eyes that he was attracted to Mimi.

"Yeah, I came to school today. I wanted to see you again," he said boldly now that he was free to flirt as much as he wanted. "I had a lot of fun with you yesterday."

The rest of the bohos looked at each other trying to stifle their laughter when they saw Roger being so flirtatious. He was never like this. It was kind of weird but they knew he just wanted to impress this girl and they liked this girl a lot more than they had liked April. She seemed a lot nicer so they wanted things to work out between them. They all decided to walk away so Roger and Mimi could be somewhat alone.

"I had a lot of fun yesterday too, Roger. But your girlfriend came and spoke to me this morning. She warned me to stay away from you but I can't. I really like you. I know you have a girlfriend and all but I thought we had something yesterday. That kiss was…amazing," she said, looking up into his amazing eyes. She could get lost in those eyes for hours but she snapped back to reality when he began to speak.

"She's not my girlfriend anymore. I broke up with her this morning. She told me never to speak to you again and I didn't like how she was trying to control me. We never had a great relationship and I wanted to be free to flirt with you," he said with a grin. "I'm glad that you like me and don't want to stay away from me though. Most girls would get scared by April but the fact that you're not makes you even more great."

She blushed when he wanted to be free to flirt with her. So she was right, they had had something yesterday and he had felt it too. Thank God for that. And thank God that awful girl was out of the picture. Mimi didn't like her much after all the names she had called her that morning.

As the two stood there just looking at each other, happy to have met each other, the bell rang. Roger decided to walk Mimi to choir even though he was dreading seeing April again. Who know what rumors she had spread by now.

He took Mimi's hand in his own and walked through the hallways with her. He noticed a few eyes on them because they were a new couple. Everyone was curious and soon the entire school would know they were a thing but he didn't care. He was just happy to have her.

"Roger, does this mean we're like dating now?" She asked him curiously, her voice full of hope. She wanted nothing more than for the gorgeous rocker to be her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I guess it does," he said with a warm smile. 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey, this doesn't have anything to do with the story but it's related to RENT. My friend Amanda and I decided to start a Rent roleplaying board. It's really cool and we have all the characters now but we are still accepting original characters! If you're interested just mention it in the review or something.

Mimi and Roger walked into Choir hand in hand. As soon as they stepped foot into the room all eyes were glued on them. It made both Mimi and Roger feel uncomfortable but they tried their best just to ignore it. If they ignored it then all of the stares would probably go away more quickly. At least they hoped so. Roger knew better though. He knew the stares would only increase once April let tons of rumors starting spreading around the school. He wasn't looking forward to that but he would find a way to get even with her eventually.

For right now he just found his seat with Mimi and waited for class to begin. All throughout the class period he could hear whispers about himself and Mimi going around. Either they were still intrigued by the fact that they were holding hands or April had already started the rumors. Roger was betting on the second option.

April sat in the choir room with her a devious smirk on her face because of the rumors she had started. She was staring Roger down so she could see his reaction when he heard what the rumors were. She knew it would be embarrassing for both him and Mimi which was what she had been going for. She was still livid about the whole situation but getting revenge did help her feel a little bit better.

By the end of class both Roger and Mimi had picked up on the rumors as well. According to the rumors Roger and Mimi were only together because he had gotten her pregnant. It was ridiculous seeing as the two of them had only known each other for a day but high school kids would believe what they wanted whether it actually made sense or not.

Mimi was absolutely mortified. It was only her second day and everyone thought she was a whore which she certainly was not. She thought it was going to be so great because she had Roger and she liked him and she was even making a few friends. But of course all of her progress had to be ruined by one stupid rumor. She figured Roger would want to stop dating her now so the rumors started and she had already given up on making friends now. No one wanted to be friends with a whore.

"Roger, I don't think I can do this," she whispered to him before getting up and running out of the room practically in tears by now. She went to the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. She didn't want to ever come out. She didn't know what other rumors would be started about her by then.

Roger sat in the choir room, not sure what to do. He knew for sure he wasn't going to let April affect what was going on with him and Mimi but he needed to find a way to make Mimi feel better. And he couldn't exactly do that when she had left and locked herself in the girls bathroom. Roger leaned over and whispered to Maureen, asking her to go to the bathroom and talk to Mimi.

Maureen agreed since she hated to see her be the victim of April. It had happened to her once because she flirted with Roger frequently. It was just part of her personality to flirt and April took it personally and started rumors about her as well. The truth was the girl had problems containing her pain and anger.

"Mimi?" Maureen called softly when she was in the bathroom. "It's Maureen, Roger's friend. We wanted to check on you and make sure you're okay."

Mimi sighed and tried to make her sobs a little quieter when she heard Maureen's voice. At least Roger had cared enough about her to send someone after her. Maybe he wouldn't want to break up with her after all. She didn't understand why on earth he would want to stay with her though. She wiped her tears from her face and then opened the bathroom stall so Maureen could talk to her.

"So does the whole school think I'm a whore yet?" She questioned, feeling like she wanted to cry all over again.

"Mimi," Maureen said softly. "April starts rumors about people every single day. People listen and have fun with the rumor for a day maybe but deep down they all know it's not true. By tomorrow everyone will have forgotten about this. What you need to do is just ignore it and be happy with Roger. He likes you a lot and I think you like him quite a bit too."

Mimi couldn't help but to smile when Maureen told her that Roger liked her a lot. The diva was probably right about the rumor too. It would hopefully blow over by tomorrow and her and Roger would be able to have a regular relationship. Mimi suddenly liked Maureen. She could tell they would be good friends from now on.

"Thanks, Maureen. I guess I should go back to class and just deal with these rumors…" she said although she really didn't want to. "Do you think April will eventually leave me alone?" She asked curiously as the two of them began walking back to choir.

"Probably. She used to have a problem with me and now she just ignores me. So the two of you probably won't ever be friends but she won't start rumors about you every chance she gets. At least I hope not. You're a nice girl. You don't deserve that."

Mimi smiled at Maureen and then took her seat next to Roger just as the bell rang. At least she wouldn't be stuck in the same room as that girl. She looked over at Roger and forced a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to overreact but it was just too much for me to handle," she explained as she stood up and began walking to her next class with Roger hand in hand. "Back at my old school they started a lot of rumors about me too. No one liked me there so it just brought back those bad memories. It was just salt in my wounds, I guess."

Roger felt bad when he heard about why Mimi started crying and everything. He should have known there was a story behind her emotions because most people he knew would have just ignored April's rumor. It made him even angrier at April for bringing back Mimi's bad memories.

"I'm sorry about what she said, Mimi. I really am. I'm happy that I have you now instead of her. You're so much better and so much more mature than her," he told her with a smile just as they arrived in class.

"Thanks, Roger. I'm really lucky to have you," she told him before placing a quick kiss on his lips and going to her seat.


	6. Chapter 6

A couple of weeks went by and Mimi continued to successfully hide her secret from Roger. She felt bad hiding things from him because they always talked about how they wanted no secrets between them but if he knew then he wouldn't want to be with her anymore. She made it her priority to keep her secret from him because she didn't want to lose him. She couldn't lose him. He was all she had. Him and his friends. And if her broke up with her then his friends wouldn't be her friends anymore. That's just how relationships worked.

She was sitting on the couch in her small living room thinking about all of this and then door bell rang and startled her. She quickly collected her thoughts before standing up and going to answer the door. She smiled when she saw her amazing boyfriend, Roger standing there. The one she was keeping a secret from.

She hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before letting him come inside.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink, Rog?" She asked as she looked for something for herself.

Just when she opened the fridge she heard a beeping sound go off. Shit, shit, shit. What was she supposed to do? This was the first time her beeper had gone off in front of Roger. She hadn't intended for it to happen either so she didn't even have a fake story made up in her mind yet. She had to think fast.

"I'll be right back," she said so quickly that her words just got all slurred together.

She ran to the bathroom and detached her beeper, trying to calm herself down. She quickly swallowed her AZT pill and left the beeper and the pills in the bathroom before going back to the living room to talk to Roger. She was hoping he wouldn't ask any questions about why she had ran to the bathroom so quickly because she didn't know how she would answer that question. She didn't even know how she could keep up this lie anymore.

"Mimi? Baby, what's wrong?" He asked, seeing the distress on her face.

She just shook her head, still not wanting him to find out although it would be easier if she just told him. She wouldn't have to lie anymore and she could just go back to being a nobody with no one to care about her. She already knew what it was like and had survived it for 16 years before she met Roger so maybe she would be able to handle it for the two years she had left in high school.

"It's nothing," she murmured. "Nothing for you to worry about anyway. Now was there something you wanted to eat or drink?"

"Mimi, no, I don't want anything to eat or drink. I want you to tell me the truth. You're hiding something right now and I can see that. What happened to no secrets? Don't you want to be honest with me?"

Mimi felt tears springing to her eyes when he played the honesty card. Tons of guilt washed over her and she knew she had to just tell him. Even though it would end their relationship at least she had been honest.

She slowly got up and grabbed her beeper and her pills and handed them to Roger.

"This is what I've been hiding from you, Roger. I've been hiding it ever since the day we met. I know it's not the greatest thing to find out your girlfriend has HIV so I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want to lose you…"

Roger was so shocked to find that Mimi was HIV positive. His jaw almost dropped because he was so shocked. It made him wonder how she contracted the disease. The only way he would be angry with her about it was if she got it by sleeping with someone while they were dating but he really didn't think that was the case. She was crazy about him or at least she made it seem that way.

"How…how did you contract it, Meems?" He asked her gently, not wanting to upset her more than she already was.

"Before I came here I was very into drugs. It helped me escape my sucky life and at the time it was my solution to all of my problems. Long story short, I shared a needle with the wrong person at the wrong time and now I have this wonderful disease. Fantastic girlfriend you've got, huh?"

It broke Roger's heart to hear Mimi talking like that about herself. Didn't she know he cared about her enough to stay with her whether she had this disease or not? It was something she had done in her past. Everyone does bad things in the past but that doesn't make them bad people. It really didn't make him think anything differently of her besides the fact that they couldn't have sex without him contracting the disease of death. And it made him worry about losing her but he didn't think she was a bad person and he definitely didn't want to break up with her.

"Mimi, don't talk about yourself like that. You are amazing and I'm not going to leave you because you've got a disease. That would be stupid of me. You're the same person and I don't think badly of you now. I want to be with you forever."

Mimi looked up at him, surprised by his words. She had been expecting the complete opposite.

"Really? You still want to be with me even though we can't have sex and I could die soon?"

Roger nodded without giving it a second thought.

"You're special to me Mimi. I want to be with you no matter what. I care about more than just sex and lifetime guarantees."


	7. Chapter 7

Months went by after Roger discovered Mimi's secret. You would think it would make their relationship better but for some reason their relationship was getting worse and worse. They fought over the stupidest things. If one of them was late meeting the other then they would yell and fight and make into World War III. Maybe it was just because they spent too much time together but it seemed their relationship was going to come to an end soon.

Especially when Mimi started hanging out with other people. She was making friends besides Roger now, was that really such a bad thing? She did have things in common with other people besides Roger. She struck up conversations with other students in classes. But apparently it was a bad thing when the person she was starting to hang out with was Benjamin Coffin III. He was the cool, older guy in school and he seemed to be nice. At least to her. She didn't know he and Roger were arch enemies until she got blown up on by Roger for even talking to the guy.

He yelled at her for probably a half hour and by the end of his rampage she was in tears. He didn't seem to care though. He was too angry to care. After he was through yelling at her he just left and didn't even look back at her. Normally he would have comforted her and made her feel better and apologized but not this time. Mimi didn't even try to be rational about it. She just assumed that he didn't love her anymore. She figured it was his way out of their relationship.

She went to Benny after Roger left. If he wasn't going to stay to comfort her she needed someone to talk to and be comforted by. Benny probably wasn't the best choice but he was the only friend she had that wasn't one of Roger's friends. She felt he was the only one she could go to.

"Benny… Roger and I got into a fight. I don't think he loves me anymore," she said as she felt the tears welling up in her eyes all over again. 

As soon as Benny heard that and saw the tears he went over to her and hugged her. He knew she was vulnerable right now and he was going to take advantage of that. In his mind Roger wasn't the right guy for her. He had wanted her ever since the first day he saw her but of course Roger got to her first. 

"Mimi, I'm so sorry. If I could have warned you about him before you got so involved then I would have. He has a temper problem. I think you should stay away from him. I actually have an idea for both of us. You want to be a dancer right?"

She only nodded. She did want to be a dancer but she didn't know what that had to do with Roger.

"Well, how about we leave for New York City tomorrow? I have my car so I can drive us. It's not too far away and I can get you a dancing job, Mimi. Does that sound like a plan?"

Mimi nodded although it hurt her to even think about leaving Roger. She had convinced herself that he didn't love her anymore though so she thought it would be easier to just leave him behind. He would be able to move on without her bothering him and she would be able to try and move on with her life without the constant reminder of the guy she loved. 

"That sounds great, Benny. You'll probably want to say goodbye to your friends but I don't want to say goodbye to anyone. You go to school tomorrow and say goodbye to everyone and I'll stay home and pack. I'll meet you by your car after school lets out and we can just run away."

Part of her was relieved to get away because she wouldn't have to deal with her family anymore. That was a huge reason why she agreed to leave anyways. Her mom only cared about her siblings and never paid attention to her. She was sick of it.

The next day she met Benny at his car after school let out. She had her duffel bag filled with a few things she might need. She sat in the car while Benny loaded everything up and said goodbye to a few more people and as she sat there her eyes roamed around the school. They stopped when they came across Roger and his friends standing outside of the school. They were waiting for her. Even though Roger had yelled at her he was still waiting for her. That meant it wasn't over between them. He did still love her but it was too late to get out of this now. She had agreed to run away with Benny and he had just started up the car. 

She pressed her face against the window for a moment, trying to feel closer to Roger, wishing she were in his arms so she could say goodbye.

"I love you, Roger," she whispered before Benny started driving away, leaving Roger in the distance.


End file.
